The Day Everyone Laughed at Me

On April 26th of last year, I participated in the first annual CNBC Stock Draft – a competition where we were given a choice of 20 stocks and then had to hold one of them until Feb 2nd, 2013.

I had the first pick, could have gone with pre-IPO Facebook, Google, JNJ etc. Instead, I picked Research In Motion (RIMM) because of the nature of the contest. Coming in second or third is meaningless so I figured the smart thing was to go with volatility and the potential for outlier outcomes.

And the roomful of other traders and reporters at CNBC exploded in laughter.

Brian Sullivan asked me if I was kidding.

Jim Cramer, who mentioned that his pick would have been Apple at 608, called me “that guy” and dismissed the choice as well.

As of today, from what I’m told, I am in the lead with my pick of Research In Motion. RIMM has tripled from its low last fall and – as I had speculated could happen – is said to be in talks about a major transaction.